Use this forum for book and reading discussion that doesn't fall into another category. Talk about books, genres, reading issues, general literature, and any other topic of particular interest to readers. If you want to start a thread about a specific book or a specific series, please do that in the section below this one.

The last book I read was "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I would rate it a 5/5. I finally got the chance to read it, and I can see why it is loved by many. I actually watched the movie first, but I still think that the book is better.

Early hours of the morning, driving home from a party, a power blackout, an intense summer rain storm, a pale face, a bump, a lifeless body at the side of the road - continue the journey home and live with a very guilty conscience.

In A Mortality Tale by Jay Verney (shortlisted for the 1995 Miles Franklin Award), this is the scenario facing Carmen Molloy, a woman in her early 30s, whose niece, Wendy, was curled up drunk and asleep in the car, in the outer suburbs of Brisbane in 1990.

Although the collision was clearly an unavoidable accident, it is not clear why Carmen chose to drive away from the scene, committing the crime of 'hit and run'.

Verney writes what is essentially a 'confession' from Carmen's point of view, so we are always inside her head. It becomes a fascinating insight into one person's fight with the demon of a guilty conscience, and the debate over the relative benefits of honesty or continued silence.

Readers can and will draw their own conclusions about Carmen's moral values and cast their judgements accordingly.

Verney has also captured suburban and outback living in 1990 Queensland - the people, the climate (humidity and intense heat, drought and flood), all with an easy style of story-telling laced with wit and cynicism.

I really enjoyed this novel by an Australian author I had not previously known of. 4 stars out of 5

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Somme Mud by E P F (Edward) Lynch is a first hand account by an Australian infantryman about life and death in the front line trenches of war-ravaged France, around the battlefields of the River Somme.

Written in forthright and plain language, including some slang that may not be politically correct today, Lynch tells it like it was, describing the mateship, wry humour, bravery, stoicism and the sheer terror and horror of war.

Without being gratuitously gory, Lynch is not shy in describing what war ordinance can do to a living body, the massive number of dead, dismembered and injured bodies on both sides, and the sheer terror of having a frenzied enemy soldier in your trench with a bayonet that he is able and eager to use.

He describes the bitter cold, the relentless rain, the ubiquitous sucking mud, the extreme hunger and extended periods without sleep, the filth, the stink, the constant noise of artillery barrage, and the persistent irritation of living with lice in your clothing, not to mention the knowledge that you are always just an instant from death or cruel injury.

Lynch was one of the lucky ones - he was injured five times, once requiring a 6 month break in England for surgery and recovery - and yet thousands of his comrades died. Some lasted mere seconds into their first front line action.

And yet he finds time for the pleasures of mateship, the spirit of sharing what you have when nobody has enough, the opportunities for a little Aussie larrikinism, and the bleak, wry humour that can only people in such a situation could express.

This is an indelible record and testament to the bravery of Lynch and many thousands of men just like him for future generations to be awed and inspired by, recognising that they made an extreme sacrifice for the freedom we now enjoy.

4.5 stars out of 5

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I just finished "The diary of an oxygen thief". I'm still not sure at all how I feel about it. There were times when I put it down and didn't read it for days, or didn't think I'd go back to it at all. I'm very torn between saying that it was very honest and authentic, and not really seeing the point of the story. I think I need some time to chew it over.

"She Stoops to Conquer" by Oliver Goldsmith
If you love comedy and drama, then you'll love this book. It is simply an amusing comedy that shows the silly behaviour of a particular group of people. From a mistaken identity to a matchmaking agreement and finally revealing a constant love affair. Oliver Goldsmith got me in tune.

Secondly, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. Apart from the classic and well known Jekyll and Hyde, which itself is no longer than a novella, this edition contains a number of other short stories, which are mostly dark stories of murder and intrigue, bordering on the macabre.

All in all, I was underwhelmed by all of these stories, which I found to be underdeveloped and lacking in dramatic tension and, frankly, I was pretty bored by it all. I will give it a generous 3 stars out of 5.

Have you read Mary Reilly? It's a sort of retelling of Jekyll and Hyde from a young maid's perspective.

You're nobody's rainbow.

You're nobody's princess.

You're nobody's doorway but your own, and the only one who gets to tell you how your story ends is you.

Secondly, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. Apart from the classic and well known Jekyll and Hyde, which itself is no longer than a novella, this edition contains a number of other short stories, which are mostly dark stories of murder and intrigue, bordering on the macabre.

All in all, I was underwhelmed by all of these stories, which I found to be underdeveloped and lacking in dramatic tension and, frankly, I was pretty bored by it all. I will give it a generous 3 stars out of 5.

Have you read Mary Reilly? It's a sort of retelling of Jekyll and Hyde from a young maid's perspective.

No, I haven’t read that. I will keep an eye out for it.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I latest book was a memoir, FEARLESS! Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur by Ray Lindstrom. I gave it 3 out of 4 stars. His story was fun and fascinating. I wish I could give it 4 stars, but there were some editing and grammar errors.